The Kanon Pokajanen was written in 1995 to commemorate the 750th anniversary of Cologne Cathedral in Germany. Its text, in Old Church Slavonic, is that of a long Russian Orthodox rite of repentance that Pärt had long considered setting; even so, the composition took him two years to complete. Written for unaccompanied SATB choir (and first recorded by the twenty-eight-member Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the Kanon Pokajanen features Pärt's typical slow-moving, triadic harmonies, once in a while intensifying into bell-like overtones. Ode IX is one of eleven sections of the work, which runs for over eighty minutes in toto; it features a recurring passage of unresolved second-inversion chords that simply and uniquely generate the atmosphere of hushed mysticism characteristic of Pärt's works.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.